CROATIAN PRESIDENT OPENS INT. AUTUMN FAIR IN ZAGREB

ZAGREB, Sept 16 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic opened the 79th International Autumn Fair in Zagreb on Tuesday. #L# At the premises of the Zagreb Fair (ZV), which are the venue for this event, 1,700 exhibitors from 37 countries have put their products and services on display. The partner-country of this year's fair, which will last until 22 September, is Bulgaria whose Prime Minster Simeon Saxe Cobourg-Gotha attended the opening ceremony. President Mesic said in his speech on the current economic situation that Croatia needed a change in the model of the development policy. I advocate two main goals of the Croatian development-oriented policy. The first goal is to accomplish an intensive economic growth, and the second refers to the realisation of structural changes in the income distribution, the head of state said. He went to say that it would be appropriate for Croatia to have the economic policy based on export as the chief component in the economic growth, together with plans for re-industrialisation. Mesic also warned about cases of social inequality inherited from the former model of transition, conducted in the period from 1990 to 2000, marked by business deals of silent partners, taycoonisation and similar features. Europeasation of Croatia will mean the abandonment of such a model of capitalism, Mesic said advocating the European model of socially sensitive market economy. The president also warned about a deficit in the balance of payments current accounts and a high foreign debt, adding that they were not alarming but should be carefully monitored. He reiterated that the key to the change lay in a continued and steady rise in exports. Mesic expects the Croatian government and the national bank to draft concrete measures for export stimulation. In this context he urged the central bank to be much more resolute and the government to act as an interventionist so as to encourage exports and economic growth. (hina) ms